Posted on Dig Deep, Radio

Breakdown: Top 5 Finds of 2009

Melting Pot's Top 5 Finds of 2009
Melting Pot's Top 5 Finds of 2009

2009 was a pretty good year for me on the digging front, got a number of records that I used to own and had been kicking myself for parting ways with and got turned on to a lot of things I’d never heard of before. Unlike past years, virtually all of my time spent in record spaces was in California this year, mostly in the LA area with a couple of trips to the Bay and one further south to San Diego. Being severely under-employed I have to be very strategic about the records I get these days so there aren’t any obscenely rare records on this list, just really solid ones (though I should note that that Phil Cohran record would be on this list had I not shipped it off to Japan!).

Now, I could include recs from Ebay here,but somehow that really doesn’t qualify as a “find” to me (though I did get some brilliant records off of Ebay last year, including finally getting a copy of the debut from 24-Carat Black, Ghetto Misfortune’s Wealth, a record I’ve been passively looking out for the past 16 years!). So instead, these are the top 5 LPs or 45s I dug up at record stores in 2009…Let me know what you dug up in 2009!!!

***Honorable Mentions: Mauricio Smith – Bitter Acid [Groove Merchant, SF], Linda Jones – “Hypnotized” 45 [Bagatelle, Long Beach], Roy Brooks – The Free Slave [Amoeba, LA], Grassella Oliphant – The Grass Is Greener [Atomic, Burbank], Lafayette Afro Rock Band – Voodoounon [BAO Records, San Diego], Village Soul Choir – Cat Walk / Country Walk 45 [Bagatelle, Long Beach]

5. Lee Dorsey – A Lover Was Born / What Now My Love – Amy 7” [Records LA, LA]

Dorsey

Lee Dorsey – A Lover Was Born

A bonafide classic and one of my favorite tracks of all time…this is one of maybe 3 songs where I completely lose my shit as soon as it comes on and cut extra loose on the dance floor. Lee Dorsey backed up by the Meters and for 2 minutes and 54 seconds absolutely nothing in the world can go wrong. I’d had this song on CDs and maybe a 80s comp, but never owned a 45 of this one. Even if (I think) the blue label is a second press and it’s not in mint shape it still put a big smile on my face running into this at upstart Records LA in the fall of 2009 and getting it for the super affordable price of $4.

4. Eva Pilarová– EVA – Supraphon [Groove Merchant, SF]

EvaCover

Eva Pilarová – Kdyz Se Spolu K Veceru Sejdum

Going to Groove Merchant might not qualify as digging, it’s more like all the diggin’ has been done by Cool Chris and you just get to bask in the glory of all the rare funky he brings to the store. I got lucky with this one, from this Czech artist, perhaps her debut. ½ the album is poppy stuff I don’t particularly care for, but then there are these pop/psych/beat gems that are to die for. I’ll definitely be doing a proper “Dig Deep” on this one in the not so distant future.

3. The Inner Drive – Party Man / Smell The Funk – Zodiac 7” [Records LA, LA]

InnerDrive

The Inner Drive – Party Man

Another find at Records LA from early on when they were still bringing out the boxes and boxes of 45s that are currently at the store. One of my devices for weeding down the countless 45s that I’ve never heard into a manageable pile to listen to is to focus on interesting labels, band names or song titles. This group nailed all three criteria and though I picked up rarer 45s that day (namely that Vibrations 45 I sold on Ebay for close to $80), this one just hits the spot. Later I remembered that Matthew Africa (another helpful device in terms of choosing what 45s to get is to pay attention to Matthew’s blog) had a stellar post on the Inner Drive, which is part of the reason I don’t think I’ll be posting this in a 7” edition of Dig Deep, but I’ll go ahead and post the best theme song material I heard this year, “Party Man.”

2. Byron Lee & the Dragonaires – Rock Steady ‘ 67 – BRA [Beat Swap Meet, LA]

ByronCover

Byron Lee & the Dragonaires – Get Out My Life Woman

Original Post

If memory serves correctly I got this off a dealer at the Beat Swap Meet for $10 as the day’s festivities were closing down. Since then, I haven’t seen a copy for under $100. I’ve already said quite a bit about this gem, so I’ll just close by saying that “It’s Oily and it’s sweet”!

1. Yuzo Kayama & the Launchers – All About Yuzo Kayama – Toshiba [Bagatelle Records, Long Beach]

YuzoCover

Yuzo Kayama & the Launchers – Monkey Crazy

Original Post

Another record that I almost feel bad for paying so little for (almost, I said, almost). One of the rare times that Bagatelle’s owner seemed stumped, understandable since everything is in Japanese, but still clearly he hadn’t listened to it, cause I can’t imagine this being on the floor of any quality store for less than $50. Like the Eva record above, ½ is 60s schmaltzy pop with strings and girl background singers, the rest is gritty rock’n’roll. One of my most prized finds cause now it gets me focused on sounds that I never would have even thought existed prior to diggin’ this up.

Happy Hunting for 2010,

Michael

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: Top 5 New Releases of 2009

Melting Pot's Top 5 New Releases of 2009
Melting Pot

As I implied in yesterday’s post, 2009’s new releases left me wanting. There were some very good records, there always are, but as a year’s worth of music, this was the easiest time I’ve had in putting together my “Best of 2009” show on KCRW out of the last three years. No tough decisions at all, which means there weren’t a lot of records that really grabbed me (this was especially true of the “big” records of the year from Animal Collective and Phoenix). But, as I said above, there were still some very good records and below is my list of the Top 5 New Releases of 2009…Let me know what you think of these and what your favorite records were!

***Honorable mentions: Hope Sandoval – Through The Devil Softly (Nettwerk), Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career (4AD), Mos Def – The Ecstatic (Downtown), CéU– Vagarosa (Six Degrees), Quantic – Tradition In Transition (Tru Thoughts)

5. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Honest Jon’s

HypBrass

Original Post

Having performed with Mos Def, Tony Allen and recently becoming integrated into the Gorillaz collective (at least that’s what I heard), HBE is no longer a hidden gem, playing in subway stations across the country. This debut stands as the formal coming out party for these 8 sons of Phil Cohran, and their unique blend of brass band, post-bop jazz & Hip-Hop sensibilities. Strangely, as good as this record is, with guest work from master drummers Malcolm Catto and Tony Allen, I think this record would have been even better with the group’s regular drummer. We’ll have to wait for the next one on that, but this one is a helluva debut.

4. Edan – Echo Party – 5 Day Weekend

edan-echo-party

Original Post

It’s seems a bit off to include what is essentially a mix-tape on the “Best of 2009,” but Edan’s Echo Party is so much more than a mix. Everything is so seamlessly integrated that you’d be forgiven for not realizing how much Edan has manipulated and added, but it’s a marvel when fully understood. In time I feel this mix will join Double Dee & Stenski’s Lesson(s), Grandmaster Flash’s “Adventures” and Cut Chemist & DJ Shadow’s Brain Freeze as the definitive examples of Turntablist art.

3. Adam Franklin – Spent Bullets – Second Motion

AdamFranklin_SpentBullets

My long standing relationship with Swervedriver perhaps clouds my judgment on this one, but initially Adam Franklin’s Spent Bullets was a record I fully expected to be mediocre at best. I consider the first two Swervedriver records to be amongst the best of 1990s rock, output since then has been, to put it kindly, less than inspired. Cleary, Franklin was energized and inspired after the Swervedriver reunion concerts, because this record is full of well-crafted songs. However, he doesn’t attempt to recreate the past, aside from the relatively sprightly opener “Surge” all the songs are hazy and lazy (and I mean “lazy” in the best possible way here) instead of that pulsating and driving sound Swervedriver was known for. I was never able to convince others to play this record more, but it found a happy home in my car and was on repeat for months, another reason for its high placement on this list. Spent Bullets was the record I listened to most in 2009.

2. The xx – xx –XL

XX-xx

Comprised of South London teenagers, this band came out of nowhere to release one of the most universally praised and universally enjoyed records of 2009. Processed beats, shimmering guitars, breathy and sultry boy/girl vocalists, the xx have a sound that fits snugly in multiple genres and with multiple types of people. It’s a sound that at times seems routed in the past and at others seems firmly apart of the new millennia. On record it’s amazing, judging from live video I’ve seen, it’s less exhilarating in person. At first I thought this band completely lacked stage presence, but then I heard that we’re supposed to be calling this “Nu-Gaze” as in “Neo-Shoe gaze” and if that’s the case, I’ll chalk up their lack of movement to fierce adherence to aesthetics. Regardless of how they look or the way they play, they made some lovely pop music for 2009 and I’m really excited to see what this group produces as its members mature. Now if only I can remember to call them “ex ex” instead of “double X”…

1. Atlas Sound – Logos – Kranky

Atlas Sound

Original Post

Bradford Cox could have made another very insular, largely avant-garde side project record, but instead he made indie-rock perfection. In a year filled with so-so recordings, Logos stands out as presenting an artist who’s interested in creating music that is accessibly experimental. Cox plays with sound and song structure, but draws you in, instead of keeping you at a distance with avant-garde noodlery. Guest work from Noah Lennox of Animal Collective and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab highlighted Cox’s abilities all the more, “Walkabout” and “Quick Canal” merged their guests into Cox’s world, retaining parts of their sounds but only on Cox’s sonic terms. Logos stands as one of the few seminal records of 2009, one that I’m sure I’ll be enjoying well into the next decade.

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: Top 5 Reissues of 2009

Melting Pot's Top 5 Reissues
Melting Pot's Top 5 Reissues

This first full week of 2010, I’m taking a look back at 2009. This one is the first of four lists coming your way. 2009 was one of the few years where I was as excited about reissued material as I was brand new original works. Quality music was dug up all over the place, from classic albums getting swanky new editions to obscure musicians from all over the globe. Below are my Top 5 reissues of 2009 (with links to prior considerations on this blog), let me know what reissues you checked out last year!

***Honorable Mentions: Panama 3 (Soundway), Spiritual Jazz (Jazzman/Now-Again), Sensacional Soul, Vol. 2 (Vampi-Soul), Black Rio, Vol. 2 (Strut), Serge Gainsbourg – Historie De Melody Nelson (Light In The Attic)

5. Mulatu Astatke – New York – Addis – London: The Story of Ethio-Jazz 1965-1975 – Strut

mulatuastatke

Mulatu’s music has been on a variety of comps, (particularly the legendary Ethiopiques series) and even a Jarmusch soundtrack, but never before has it been brought together in such a comprehensive manner. The unique “ethio-funk” is great, but expected, what is particularly interesting about this set are the Afro-Latin tracks (presumably recorded in New York, or inspired by Mulatu’s time there). Required listening for those who like to dig deep.

4. Si Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba, Vol. 2 – Waxing Deep

usted2

Original Post

While not as much of a revelation as the original volume, over time, I think this set actually is better. You can check the original post for my favorite tracks, but all the rest could have easily been posted here, case in point this track from Los Barba.

3. King Crimson – In The Court of The Crimson King – DGC

Crimson

Original Post

At 5 CDs (or 2CD sets for the less adventureous), there’s so much new material that this set might overwhelm. The nuance and beauty of all the alternate takes, instrumental run-throughs and live tracks adds depth to a record that was already a classic.

2. Orchestre Poly-Rhytmo De Cotnou – Vol. 2 Echos Hypnotiques: From The Vaults of Albarika Store 1969-1979 – Analog Africa

Cotonou

Original Post

I’ve already said quite a bit about this comp., here let me just add that if you STILL do not own a copy of this collection, your International Funky card has been hereby revoked…

1. 24-Carat Black – Gone: The Promises of Yesterday – Numero

24caratBlackGone

Original Post

I still find it hard to fathom that this music was just sitting on a shelf for damn near 35 years. Any number of small things could have happened to have these tracks remain undiscovered and forever lost. Thankfully they were found and this lost 2nd album from 24-Carat Black is just as exceptional as their debut. A stunning release and so very necessary.

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: Best of 2009 on KCRW

Here it is, my rundown of my favorite records of 2009. Expect a few more posts in this breakdown category after the new year begins (Fave Songs + Fave Records Dug Up). Playlist will come in the new year as well. This one should be archived for some time, so enjoy the tunes of 2009. Thanks so much for checking out Melting Pot in 2009, I promise bigger and better things for 2010.

Happy New Year!

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: December 29th on Morning Becomes Eclectic!

I had the distinct pleasure of guest hosting one of the iconic shows in radio, Morning Becomes Eclectic. Especially nice since I’m taking a hiatus away from KCRW during January and most of February. Includes some 2010 releases still upcoming including Vampire Weekend, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Laura Veirs and Numero’s Born Again Funk collection. Not sure how long this will be archived, I have a copy I might throw up here if it disappears from the website. Playlist after the new year…

Posted on Ephemera

Under Review: King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (40th Anniversary Edition) – DGM

40th Anniversary Edition!!!
40th Anniversary Edition!!!

King Crimson – I Talk To The Wind (Studio Run Through)
King Crimson – Epitaph (Backing Track)

This holiday season, musical nerd that I am, I was able to splurge and pick up the 5 CD anniversary edition of a classic LP, King Crimson’s debut from 1969, In The Court of the Crimson King. I first heard King Crimson on a “sick” day from middle school watching MTV’s Closet Classics. They played a live version, probably from Beat Club, of the group performing “Larks Tongues in Aspic” and I was floored, I’d never heard anything so simultaneously beautiful and ferocious, maybe still haven’t. When I started buying cassettes (this was the late 1980s after all), beginning appropriately enough with A Young Person’s Guide To King Crimson and then to the studio releases, I found that there were different versions of the songs, so King Crimson was also my introduction to the “alternate take,” and “alternate mix,” and probably the reason I take such joy from finding subtle differences in different recordings, performances or mixes.

This expanded edition (there are also 2cd versions available) features virtually every possible edition of this album. There’s a new 2009 mix (with a thankfully “edited” version of “Moonchild,” chopping out a full 3 minutes of noodling that I always found incongruent with the mood of the piece), the previously highly touted 2004 mix, a mix from a original pink label Island records 1st pressing (from Fripp’s own private collection no less), a promo mix culled from vinyl for US DJs, single mixes and a slew of unreleased studio and live recordings. It’s a pretty overwhelming batch of tuneage given that the original album only had 5 songs to choose from, but something that is geared towards Crimso-fanaticos only. Personally, I’m a little disappointed that there wasn’t more from the “Morgan Studios” sessions with Tony Clark, from what appears to be the recreated master list from those sessions, it seems the group recorded a version of “Tomorrow’s People,” probably the best track from Crimson off-shoot McDonald & Giles (which I’ll have to feature sometime in 2010). All we have from that session is a blistering instrumental version of “21st Century Schizoid Man,” that makes you wonder what the band heard that made them want to scrap this session and take over production themselves.

Speaking of instrumentals, based on the amount of instrumental “backing” tracks to make it on this set, I’m curious if Fripp is courting producers to sample and remix Crimson’s work. It’s hard not to hear those possibilities on “Epitaph” or “I Talk To The Wind,” especially the studio run-through, with that unique drum sound from Michael Giles. More likely, the inclusion of the many instrumentals were designed to place a focus on the musicianship of the players. Having the instrumental backing track of “21st Century Schozoid Man,” a trio recording featuring Giles, Fripp & Lake, definitely shows how clearly locked in they were even though the group in this incarnation was together for less than a year in total, and had spent even less time together when they began recording. They nailed this backing track on the first take and hearing it this way was a revelation for me, from Fripp’s solos to the fact that Giles was using a double bass drum set, something that at least to my ears was obscured in the final mix.

You also get to feel a bit of the fire that this band produced with the inclusion of live material from Hyde Park and the Fillmore, in addition to a couple of recordings from Peel Sessions the group did. Also included are extensive notes, in some cases from Robert Fripp’s personal journal, on the rise and fall of the band. Those notes helped me to understand better what I had always found to be a strange thing, how Ian McDonald could go from being in King Crimson to Foreigner, but part of the reason that it appears he gave for leaving the band was the “dark” overtones of the music and a personal need to make sunnier music. There’s also an interesting article that connects the business side of Crimson to the larger trends in the music industry. All in all a fine collection and the type of thing that a “40th Anniversary Edition” should be all about.

In listening to this anniversary edition and thinking about the music to follow, it’s interesting to me that for a record that all but ushered in “progressive rock” the music is actually rather pastoral. Really much of that moniker comes down to “21st Century Schizoid Man,” their most well known song and a crazed mixed of rock and avant-garde jazz. “I Talk To The Wind,” “Moonchild,” “Epitaph,” and “In The Court of the Crimson King” sound nothing like that track and had it not been included (an impossibility of course), we’d have a very different impression of the band. There are other records from King Crimson that I enjoy more, or at least that contain more cherished songs for me, but as a total package, it’s hard not to argue that this record is the one that rules them all, the boxed set, simply cements the legend.

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: Real Estate – Real Estate – Woodsist

Another great group from New Jersey, Real Estate
Another great group from New Jersey, Real Estate

Real Estate – Black Lake

Since hearing this band on KXLU the other day while driving on an uncharacteristically low traffic day in Los Angeles, I’ve been addicted to their lo-fi indie pop rhythms. Real Estate hails from New Jersey, and reminds me of a cross between the Velvet Underground and American Analog Set, or more specifically, what the grandkids of the VU and the AMANSET’s cousins would sound like playing in a suburban cul-de-sac ’round about midnight.

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: December 23rd on KCRW

Been so focused on grading and the holiday season, forgot to mention this is one of my last show’s for a couple of months as I take a little break from KCRW. I’ll likely put together some mixes for this blog, but this show and next week’s two shows (I’m guest hosting for Morning Becomes Eclectic in addition to my Best of 2009 show next Wednesday) will be it until February. Enjoy the show, especially the big long set of King Crimson in the second hour from the 40th anniversary edition of their classic record In The Court of the Crimson King (review comin’ soon).

Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: Black Pearl – Live! – Prophesy (1970)

B.B. Fieldings is feelin' it!
B.B. Fieldings is feelin' it!

Black Pearl – Cold Sweat
Black Pearl – Uptown
Black Pearl – People Get Ready

Might revise this tomorrow, but wanted to get something up tonight before my radio show at KCRW. Best I can gather, Black Pearl was a Los Angeles based group, who put out a couple of records in the rock’n’soul vein (the other being a self-titled record on Atlantic with some really great artwork). They were led by B.B. Fieldings and featured not one, or two but three…count ’em up, three guitarists (or four if you include the bass player).

Recorded live at the Fillmore West in Frisco in 1968, this record is fairly highly prized because of a pretty solid breakdown in “Cold Sweat.” Overall the record is a solid showcase for the group and for Fieldings’ sincere appreciation of black music. “Cold Sweat” shows off the best parts of the group, solid groove, nice and funky, mostly based off the James Brown original, but with other bits thrown in, particularly at the breakdown as B.B. calls out each member of the band “Memphis Soul Stew” style beginning with the drummer who he implores to do it “dirty” and “nasty”.

“Uptown” is similar in style and feeling to “Cold Sweat,” though with some “mildly” racist essentialism associated with white folks going to the “darker” side of town to let it all hang out, though I think B.B.’s sincerity makes it seem more endearing (especially when he’s talking about soul food) than totally ignorant (A fine line admittedly, and maybe it’s just me, but since I’ve been doing cultural studies research on race and representation, I feel like I hear this trope a lot in the 50s and 60s).

B.B. certainly was attempting to do his part to bridge the Soul / Hippie divide, this especially comes out during his version of “People Get Ready” which contains these pearls of wisdom towards the end.

What the fuck good is it to live
if you don’t know what you’re alive for,
So I ask you,
I ain’t talkin’ hippy talk,
and I ain’t talkin’ freak talk,
I’m talkin’ bout life,
I’m talkin’ about the way it was,
the way it is and the way it always will be…

Not much else to say other than that…enjoy the music.

Cheers,

Michael

Posted on Radio

Breakdown: December 16th on KCRW

As you might have guessed from the lack of posting here, I’ve been slammed with grading from my work at CSU-Long Beach…Now that finals are over and it’s just daily grading, should get back into a regular groove with the posting.  This was a pretty solid show from this past week, with a bevy of new releases, King Khan, Born Again Funk from the Numero Group, slept-on records from earlier in the year including Quadron & Electric Wire Hustle and classic tracks from Jimi Hendrix & the Band of Gypsies, Talk Talk and Renaissance featuring Keith Relf & Jimmy McCarty of the Yardbirds.  Enjoy it till next week is on demand…

Posted on Ephemera

In Heavy Rotation: Quadron – Quadron – A:larm/Attack

quadron

Quadron – Herfa Hvor Vi Står

Here’s another slept on release from earlier in the year, one that’s on a bunch of KCRW DJs “Best of 2009” lists, from this Denmark duo, featuring the Hannibal 1/2 of Owasu & Hannibal. Some interesting influences throughout this mostly future funk release from Sly Stone to the Shangri-Las but I’m quite fond of this slow slow burner at the end, the only track in Danish.

Posted on Dig Deep

Dig Deep: The Barry Goldberg Reunion – There’s No Hole In My Soul – Buddah (1968)

Hazy, Lazy Tunes from Chicago's Barry Goldberg
Hazy, Lazy Tunes from Chicago's Barry Goldberg

Barry Goldberg – Sittin’ In Circles
Barry Goldberg – Strung and Young
Barry Goldberg – Another Day

Back in my early college days I hosted a blues show called Crossroads on Album 88 in Atlanta. In learning about and searching for music I started to gain a big appreciation for the revivalist sound of the 60s out of Chicago, including white artists from the windy city like Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Harvey Mandel, Nick Gravenites and Barry Goldberg. I’ve already featured one record that features many of these players, Harvey Mandel’s debut, of the records of that period I think this one from Goldberg is my favorite, just because of the sound. Partially it’s the diversity of sounds on this album, the group is allover the map, performing Dylan meets the Velvets numbers, bloozy Southside strutters, wah-wah heavy rock and even a couple of country psych joints.

Mainly my love for this record is all about the way it’s produced. The sound on this record is big, so big I like to call it the Chicago Wall of Sound record. Everything just washes over you on the better tracks, the slightly echoed drums from a mellowed “Fast” Eddie Hoh, slightly reverbed bass, gorgeous clean lines from Mandel (or groovy wah-wah psych outs), floaty horns and organ. You can hear this especially on the slow burners like “Sittin’ In Circles,” “Another Day,” and the instrumental “Strung and Young” and the mostly instrumental “I Think I’m Gonna Cry.”

Of that bunch, “Sittin’ In Circles” has to be one of my favorite songs from this period of time. One of the other groups Goldberg was associated with, The Electric Flag, also recorded a version of this song, but this one is light years away from that one, sounding like a hazy drugged out summer night of sound once those drums shuffle the whole group in and Goldberg lazily sings his lines…just slays me every time.

Cheers,

Michael